Bharti Airtel denies reports of interest in Vodafone’s Indus Towers stake

After reports emerged that Bharti Airtel is in discussions to purchase a 21.05 per cent stake in Indus Towers from UK-based Vodafone Group, the telecom giant has come forward and denied the claims.

“The company has no desire to raise its stake beyond what is required for financial consolidation of Indus in the company, which shall be done as and when appropriate with compliance of applicable disclosure requirements,” Airtel said in an exchange filing.

The initial report by The Economic Times, citing industry experts, had claimed that if Vodafone Plc proceeds with selling its stake in Indus to Airtel, it could inject some of the resulting funds into Vodafone Idea (Vi), its struggling telecom venture in India in partnership with the Aditya Birla Group.